After making a big splash for the playoffs in 2015, the San Diego Padres tore down the team and began a rebuilding process. How have they done?
An Introduction
Our minor league top 10 series is coordinated by Benjamin Chase, one of our contributors at Call To The Pen.
He has poured over thousands of minor league games over the course of the year via milb.tv along with speaking with a number of team and independent scouts. These lists are based out of those conversations.
Each system will have prospects from 10 to 1, and then finish with one newcomer to the system that is worth keeping an eye on that is not in the top 10 at this time.
Conversations are certainly encouraged in the comments section on each system as we go along!
it’s hard to argue against the Padres having the most ceiling of any farm system in baseball
Padres System Review
We’ll just say that a roller coaster ride may have been more smooth lately than being a Padres fan, with the ups and downs that have persisted in the Padres’ approach in the last few years.
After hiring A.J. Preller away from the Texas Rangers in 2014, the Padres went on a spending/trading spree to build up their team for playoff contention in 2015. That approach failed in dramatic fashion, as the team lost 88 games and actually went through three managers on the season.
That season reportedly cost the Padres significant money, which led to a massive rebuilding effort as the team traded off any and all viable assets, attempting to acquire prospects in return.
The team also made a major splash in both free agency and the draft this season, which has also added significant players to their overall farm system.
As I put together my farm system rankings, it’s hard to argue against the Padres having the most ceiling of any farm system in baseball. The issue is that they have nearly no prospects at the AA/AAA levels right now. You’ll see two on this top ten list, but they’ll both be in the majors in 2017, leaving a big hole in the upper minors as far as talent goes.
When I started putting together possible players for the top 10 for the Padres, I had 26 players I was considering. There was one who was over 23 years old, and he did end up making the list. Nearly every single player was 20 or younger, which speaks to the bright future of the organization, but also to the volatility and the length that this rebuild is likely going to take for Padres fans.
While San Diego has seen teams like the Yankees and Brewers recently rebuild their farm systems with major league ready players in a matter of one or two years, their approach to overload the lower levels with talent gives them arguably the deepest system in the game, but also one that Padres fans will be waiting a while to see results from.
Let’s take a look at the top 10!
Next: #10